The creation of an electric pulse is vital to numerous applications. Several methods are currently available to produce such a pulse and are in need of improvement. For example, but not by way of limitation, a magneto is a device used in the ignition system of gasoline-powered internal combustion engines to provide pulses of high voltage electrical power to the spark plugs.
Although the present invention is not limited to this type, in the type known as a shuttle magneto, an engine rotates a coil of wire between the poles of a magnet. In the inductor magneto, the magnet is rotated and the coil remains stationary.
On each revolution, a cam opens the contact breaker one or more times, interrupting the current, which causes the electromagnetic field in the primary coil to collapse. As the field collapses there is a voltage induced (as described by Faraday's Law) across the primary coil. As the points open, point spacing is such that the voltage across the primary coil will arc across the points. A capacitor is placed across the points to suppress the arc, set the amount of voltage across the primary coil, and to control the rate at which the electrical energy dissipates in the primary coil.
A second coil, with many more turns than the primary, is wound on the same iron core to form an electrical transformer. The ratio of turns in the secondary winding to the number of turns in the primary winding, is called the turns ratio. Voltage across the primary coil results in a proportional voltage being induced across the secondary winding of the coil. The turns ratio between the primary and secondary coil is selected so that the voltage across the secondary reaches a very high value, enough to arc across the gap of the spark plug.
As the above process is inefficient in many respects, there is an ongoing need to improve upon existing techniques to produce an electrical pulse.